I noticed something that I thought was really interesting
when I re-watched 1×02 Wendigo for gif-ing purposes. There’s this moment where
the Monster of the Week is coming down the tunnels, ready to eat everyone. A
family, including the heavily injured Tommy, is terrified and both boys are scared
and Manfully Hiding It. What do they do?
They split up:
HALEY: We’ll never outrun it.
DEAN looks back at the others and makes eye contact with
Sam: You thinking what I’m thinking?
SAM: Yeah, I think so.
DEAN: All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He’s gonna get
you out of here.
HALEY: What are you gonna do?
DEAN winks and starts walking and yelling: Chow time, you
freaky bastard! Yeah, that’s right, bring it on, baby, I taste good.
SAM waits until DEAN is a safe distance away: All right,
come on! Hurry!
The family follows SAM down the tunnel.
These are the same boys who break down if there’s so much as
a door between them in season 13. And yes, they’ve gone through a shit ton of
stuff between the second episode and the nearly-three-hundredth. But at the beginning,
the ‘saving people’ part was more important than the ‘family business’ part-
although they both are way too self-sacrificial in the later seasons (and it
manifests in different ways for each), much of that martyrism is focused on the
idea of family. Dean feels the need to control and therefore protect his family,
Sam feels the need to cherish and therefore earn his family. To fulfill these values,
both will do almost anything to themselves.
But right here, Dean comes up with the idea- splitting up
and luring the monster away from the injured family. Sam is in sync. Both are
panicked, but both can see that this is the safest and quickest option- so Sam
lets Dean go. And then, when the wendigo is about to kill the civilians, Sam
throws himself in front of them- giving Dean the time to kill the monster. Both Dean’s attempt at luring the wendigo away and Sam’s attempt at shielding the civilians involve a degree of self-sacrifice- but it is to save people, and even if it means putting the other brother in danger, they immediately agree that it is the best option. They
are in sync, they trust each other, and more importantly: they value the lives
of the civilians more than they value their ideal of family safety- which
honestly, makes them a better family unit than they are in mid and even later
seasons.
What changes this?
Well, there’s a ton of factors, but I think a big one is
that John sold his soul for Dean. Dean hated this because of guilt and
complicated grief associated with such a sacrifice. Dean learned that family
was more important than ideological scruples, such as dealing with demons or
regarding an individual’s own autonomy. So when Sam was dead, he inflicted the
same terrible fate that had been forced onto him onto Sam- who then felt he
needed to make the sacrifice worthwhile by earning the privilege of life via
honoring family.
But in the beginning? Before the cycle of Death-Sacrifice, they
were brothers- brothers, and not Winchester Brothers. Just two boys who trusted
each other and valued each other and worked together to help other people. They
didn’t love each other less in the beginning, but they had a healthier dynamic built on mutuality.
I fully agree with everything mentioned here! I’d also like to add that another good example of this sort of thing in Season 1 was in the 15th episode “The Benders”. Yes, the whole time Dean was doing whatever it took to find Sam, maybe even more so than he had been at the start when it was just another case, but there was a specific moment that always gets to me, especially considering events in later seasons. When the family has Dean tied-up and they tell him to choose which of their two prisoners they’ll hunt, the lady cop or the guy (or they’ll kill them both,) when pressed Dean chooses Sam. Yes, he’s worried about his brother, but he also knows what he’s capable of. And he knows that despite all her police training, Sam will still have a better chance against them than the cop would. So he chooses Sam because he TRUSTS him, and because saving people is still important to him. It’s still their priority. (Now the family went and changed the rules, so it ended up being a moot point, and Sam still kicked ass, as did the cop, but I still appreciate what Dean’s choice meant.) Because I have a feeling that if that situation had instead happened in later seasons, he might have chosen differently. He would have felt bad about it, but I think it still would have happened.
I love this addition! You’re right- I’m pretty sure that something like this wouldn’t happen in latter seasons because when it comes down to a potential threat against Sam’s life or TRUSTING Sam’s skills and autonomy, he almost always picks the former.
I didn’t know you ship them too, that’s amazing!! 😀
Like, we aren’t really alone (plenty of people have hinted at the ship and from what I know, some of my multishipper friends ship it), but unfortunately, there’s really not much for us – I haven’t seen any sammick fanart or fanfics, but that’s something we can try to make up for! (Well, it will have to wait till my motivation comes back from the dead but I’ll try I promise)
It’s only a shame that we didn’t get to know Mick before he died and that he was on the show for such a short time. I still think it should’ve been him to come back to life in 13×07, not mr. Fear Me I’m The Ketchacabra burr hurr. But maybe that’s in on itself a good thing – we can use what we know and create our content in peace, without fear that certain writers will make our favorite rebel into an unlikable asshole or a character with the personality of a chair.
something shocking happens that affects both Sam n Dean equally yet only Dean gets a closeup reaction shot
Sam spends a scene literally blurred into the background
a recurring character who’s close to both boys hugs Dean but not Sam
Sam flinches in response to Dean’s behaviour
take two sips when:
Sam is forced to work with someone who hurt him; if no one bothers to ask how he feels about this, down the glass; if the person in question is Lucifer, down the bottle
Dean is casually cruel to Sam/dismissive of his suffering (e.g. “’smores foot” etc.)
Dean’s shitty actions are justified by the narrative while Sam doing something not nearly comparable is demonised; if Dean’s shitty actions are justified by another character, down the glass
a new recurring character is introduced and is closer to Dean than Sam
one of Sam’s like five friends fucking dies; if said friend is a woman, down the glass
someone makes a rape joke to Sam; if said person is Lucifer, down the glass
down the glass when:
sam is sexually assaulted
sam’s agency is violated
sam doesn’t stand up for himself even though he really should
sam justifies the actions of people who have hurt him
down the bottle when:
sam doing something completely normal and healthy to preserve his own physical or mental wellbeing (e.g. going to college) is treated as a betrayal of Dean
fandom calls Sam “arrogant” or “selfish” for no reason; if they do this while bending over backwards to defend Dean, smash the bottle over your head and welcome the sweet embrace of unconsciousness,
This is a GREAT gifset. And it drives home the point perfectly. The point Dean made by mentioning Thelma and Luise and saying “We just put it in Drive and go”. And that Sam perfectly understood what Dean meant. Your gifset brings this out very clear. Tank you!
You gave me an excuse to go off, sorry-
I’ve seen other gifsets and screenshots of this scene, of course, and as soon as Dean started talking about “matching outfits” I knew, I knew, that this would cause shipping drama. There have been various, very different takes on this, and most of them were concerned with a) what ship this could possibly be about and, of course, b) what Sam’s reactions meant. Frankly, I’m not concerned with a), because what we can extrapolate from b) makes pretty clear that this isn’t what the scene was concerned with.
Davy Perez wrote this episode, and I would argue, based on this other episodes, that he’s a writer often concerned with the subtleness of grief and mental health. It’s a bit of a subjective interpretation, of course, but it’s similarly clear in last season’s Breakdown, where he was dealing with Sam’s, in that season almost entirely not addressed previously, depression and grieving process. (And, of course, setting the scene for Various & Sundry Villains very well.)
Of course, Mint Condition was very clearly about Dean’s mental health. A lot of the structure was very similar to Advanced Thanatology just a season ago – Dean is seen in his room, struggling with is mental health, Sam suggests a ghost hunt, only the two of them go; but then it appears that Dean is dealing better than he did the previous season, because, y’know, Dean literally killed himself in 13.05, but, oh! Oh! There’s still hints all over 14.04 that Dean really isn’t as okay as it seems at first glance, and it comes to head at the end of the episode, when he subtly, inadvertently expresses that he’s Not Actually Okay. That’s not only obvious by the way Dean looks when he says it (although I’m autistic and Very Bad With Expressions, so I won’t fight anyone on the interpretation of facial expressions)
but even if we just consider what he says: he suggests another pair, but it’s not about Halloween anymore – “we just put it in drive and go” is clearly removed from dressing up for Halloween, even if we don’t consider the implications of that statement within the context of the movie.
The following shot of Sam, of course, reinforces that it’s not about matching costumes anymore, but that it is about the ending of the movie and what Dean is implying with it. All the other shots of Sam are annoyed, but fond – the last one is sombre, and followed by a shot of the Impala driving on into the night.
And, someway, somehow, just like Advanced Thanatology, people have made this obvious theme of Dean being depressed and suicidal about shipping instead.
Um…kind of think Kevin has the right considering that violation resulted in his death. Just sayin’…Kevin isn’t mad at Dean and he is dead. Sam is still alive, yeah, Dean crossed a major line, but, if the dead guy can forgive, I think Sam can too.
Still doesn’t mean Sam should react the same way Kevin does. They have very different histories. It’s not fair to say that just because I didn’t think it was a big deal nobody else should either.
Yeah, it’s a dangerous misreading and oversimplification to say that because Kevin suffered the most extreme consequence of Dean’s actions (death), he has the right to set the terms of forgiveness. For one thing, Kevin’s death was an accidental side-effect of Dean’s decision, Sam’s violation was not. Dean didn’t deliberately choose to murder Kevin. He did deliberately choose to violate Sam. So I would say that despite the fact that Kevin suffered the most final consequence, Sam was more and more directly wronged by Dean.
Moreover, when it came to Kevin’s death Dean acknowledged the injury to Kevin, expressed regret, and apologized. I don’t have huge faith in the idea of the magic apology, and I’m not sure that Dean had really distinguished the things he himself truly was responsible for in Kevin’s death from the primary responsibility of Metatron and Gadreel so as to get past his own tendency to use guilt to evade responsibility and change, but at least there was some groundwork on Dean’s side for forgiveness. When it comes to the violation of Sam, Dean’s last word on the subject as of Captives – and that hasn’t changed as of now, since Dean’s closest (not-very-close) approach to an apology in 9.23 only covered the last couple of months, not the Gadreel possession – was that he was right and would do what he did again.
The message that Sam and Dean are both still alive and therefore there still exists the hope that they can resolve the issues between them and move on to a better relationship isn’t a horrible message. But the idea that that could be accomplished by Sam, who was the injured party, forgiving the noncon possession, mindwiping, and gaslighting and moving on is both meaningless and distasteful. There are some circumstances in which unilateral forgiveness is a healthy thing, but when we are talking about an ongoing relationship and an injurious behavior that the perpetrator has explicitly reserved the right to repeat, ‘forgiveness’ would in this instance be Sam acquiescing in his own abuse.
(I am very, very doubtful about the prospect of canon ever really dealing with this, so I think the central relationship of Spn is going to continue to be a queasy horror show, but even if Kevin in Captives does represent authorial voice, that doesn’t make it right. It makes it all the more terrifying.)
If you have eyes, you will be able to see that power dynamics between Sam and Dean are not equal. Yes, they are brothers. But considering last seasons, when the show actually affirms that Dean has more rights to Sam’s body and life than Sam himself (S9, whole Gadreel thing), when it’s very clear that Sam wants so hard to overcome the power dynamic, but when Dean is still domineering Sam like in the 14.03, to be honest, it’s not weird to feel uncomfortable with the scene where Dean’s verbally bashing Sam because he didn’t like Sam’s physical appearance. If they were normal brothers, maybe the scene would have been cute. But their power dynamic is not like that.
So I think I figured what bothered me so much about the new episode, and it was how Sam reacts to Dean.
Sam throughout the past 2 episodes had a strong, commanding presence. He was concise and direct with his orders and he mitigated like a boss. He took care of Nick despite the obvious reasons to want someone else to, he helped Jack feel more comfortable in his own skin, and he managed to keep it all together.
I get that this is because no one else could. Sam needed to step up and lead despite how much it scares him, and I would be okay with Sam relaxing and letting Dean take over that role. Him just stepping back to let Dean step up would be fine, and expected even. But how the show handles it bothers me.
Sam doesn’t just step back, but he’s meek and apologetic throughout the episode. He’s saying sorry for every little thing that happens, as if Sam’s waiting for Dean to say “This is where you fucked up. This is where you turned into a monster”, like Dean has done every time he left.
I mean Sam is stuttering and fumbling over his words. He is jumpy and antsy. He quite literally stands behind Dean the entire episode. Sam wanted to wait for Cass but Dean insisted they leave. Sam wanted to wait tell morning but Dean insisted they hunt now. Sam wanted to slow down but Dean insisted the push forward.
Once, Dean listens to him and that’s only because Jody is there. He would have bulldozed right past Sam if she wasn’t right beside him.
And this is the problem, Dean does not care about Sam right then. He cares about Dean and he has no regard for how Sam is feeling or how Dean’s actions are affecting him. This is not an inherently bad or selfish thing, after what he went through Dean has every right to be grumpy and angry and pissed.
But that’s not really why I’m upset.
I’m upset because every single season Sam is hyperconscious of how his actions are affecting Dean, or Bobby, or Cass. Sam apologizes for every little things and it’s because Dean told him that he only fucks shit up. I mean season 8 was all of that coming to a head to address what it was doing to Sam. Dean hasn’t ever gotten this kind of criticism until Kaia this season, but even his was given in a more sympathetic tone than Sams.
If the show addresses how quickly Sam backs down, or gives up control, and how Dean does nothing to stop it, then I’m actually super happy with this episode. I would absolutely love if this is addressed and it’s this whole arc delving into why Sam is acting like that, because it’s not actually out of character for him to do this.
But I don’t trust like that, I know how this show treats Sam. I’m just waiting for the narrative to villainize Sam for acting like a normal human again
artherra 